Kaleidoscope
by deluce
Summary: When Santana Lopez's father has had enough of her behaviour and lack of respect for his rules, he sends her away from big city life in Miami to live with her mother in Lima, Ohio a place she hasn't been in five years. While there she reunites with an old friend, and finds something she never expected to. All thanks to the charming blonde and her bright smile. DANTANA
1. Chapter One

**With Demi Lovato's big come back to the music and acting world, I got thinking about all the projects Demi has done in her career, which obviously brought me back to Glee, and with it, brought back my love for Dantana. ****Because of that, I wanted to write another Fanfic for one of my favourite ships ever. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. **

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**One**

She was a loose cannon. She always had been, it was nearly impossible to tame her. This was something that anyone, who had ever been around her for long enough, knew about Santana Lopez. She was an extremely explosive girl, with a wickedly sharp tongue; she would often say things in the heat of an argument. Usually she didn't mean the things that she said or did and would ultimately regret them. She had all of these aggressive tendencies that she found extremely hard to curb, she would often overreact to even the smallest of things. It was so easy to get her to the 'yelling place' as she often referred to it. In fact, it really didn't take much at all.

In general- when it counted- she wasn't a terrible person. Most of the time, she was a larger than life person, who only wanted to have fun. She usually _tried _to do her best by, and for, other people. However, what she often thought was for the best, actually wasn't.

People often misconstrued her as being mean, or being a bitch, and Santana could admit it - sometimes, with certain people, she could definitely be both of those things. But for the most part, Santana just saw herself as being an open and, albeit bluntly, honest person. It just so happened, that a lot of the time, her honesty came out wrong, or just wasn't what the other person wanted to hear.

She was impulsive and would often do things just for the hell of doing it. Santana was the type of girl that would do what, and who, she wanted, whenever she wanted to do it.

She was fun-loving and free willed. Santana saw nothing wrong with being this way; the way that she saw it was that she was just enjoying her life, while she was still young enough to enjoy it. Her father, however, disagreed with his daughter, entirely.

That's why she was now sitting in the front passenger seat of her mother's car, staring blankly ahead at the road in front of her. She watched as the raindrops splattered against the window, spreading smaller flecks of water across the glass, making large taps as it made contact with the glass. Her mother set the windshield wipers in motion, they did little to help the situation, though. Instead of making the view from the window clearer, the water smudged against the glass, blurring their vision slightly.

It never failed to annoy Santana that the windshield wipers always left that small triangle at the top of the window. God she hated how it was always _just_ out of reach for them. She would never understand why anything would be designed that way.

She sat, listening to the music that her mother had put on as a source of background noise, to ease the awkward silence. Although Santana would never fully admit it, and would definitely never say it out loud, she actually kind of liked her mother's taste in music. Sure it wasn't her favourite, but she definitely wouldn't complain about listening to the smooth music of Dr. Hook.

Santana was yet to speak to her mother since getting in her car. She had decided to take the time she had while traveling to think about everything that she had done that had resulted in her sitting where she was right now.

Santana had always been a slightly wayward person, but over the past few months, her attitude and behaviour only seemed to get worse. She had been staying out way past the curfew her father had set for her, even after he had extended it when she had begged him to. He never knew where she was, what she was doing, or who she was doing it with. She had been drinking herself into oblivion at parties around the city, both high school and college, she had even drank herself to the point of hospitalization- on more than one occasion- needing her stomach pumped.

Her father's patience had started to wear thin at that point.

She couldn't stop thinking about how disappointed her father had been when that had happened. Nor would she ever forget the worried expression on his face.

Mainly though, Santana focused on the events of _that_ morning, the faithful one that had undoubtedly been the straw that had broken the camel's back for her father.

It had been a Saturday morning, and as per usual, Santana had been out drinking at a party the night before, she and a few of her friends had crashed another high school party, and once again, she had drank far too much. Not only had she broken her curfew, again, but she had stumbled home with another girl at three in the morning.

On that particular Saturday, her father had walked into her bedroom, only to find Santana lying in her bed, wrapped around another girl, in nothing more than a pair of sleep shorts and a bra. He had known about Santana's sexuality for a while now, and that had definitely not been the problem. Had he known this girl, and had Santana asked, he definitely wouldn't have minded her spending the night, provided, she spent the night in a seperate room to Santana.

The problem had been that once again she had been drinking and had broken her curfew, only this time, she had added sleeping with someone else under his roof to that list.

Javier Lopez was a strict man, one who had made a very strong set of rules for his two daughters. Santana only had one sibling, an elder sister, Carmen and throughout their life, they had both found themselves in a lot of trouble, there were just so many rules, that the two Lopez sisters had found so tempting to break.

One of the rules that he had set for them, was that he didn't want his daughters acting 'inappropriately' under his roof. This rule hadn't changed when Santana came out, he had kept that rule firmly in place, saying there were to be no double standards for his daughters, and that while Santana may not be able to get pregnant, he still didn't want either of his daughter's sharing a bed with a potential partner. Granted, Santana had broken that rule more than once, but thanks to the demanding nature of Javier's job, and the amount of hours he would have to work at the hospital, she had never been caught. That was, until that day, when Javier had just finished a shift, and had decided to check on his youngest daughter.

That had been it for her father. He had all but thrown the mystery girl out of his house, and once she had put on a shirt, had lectured Santana for the best part of two hours about how he was sick of her behaviour and blatant lack of respect for him and his rules, and how he wouldn't be standing for it anymore.

He stormed away from, muttering profanities under his breath in Spanish, leaving Santana sitting alone in the living room, close to tears. She had never wanted it to come to this, had never meant for it to come to this, and yet here she was.

Once her father had left the room, he picked up the phone and called her mother, Maribel in Ohio. Santana hadn't been able to hear the full conversation between her parents. Just her father's side of it. She remembered how he had tried to stay calm on the phone, but how his anger had spiked when explaining the situation, screaming down the phone as if all of this had been Santana's mother's fault.

It was clear for her to see where she got her anger from. Javier wasn't a bad man, he had been a great father for almost eighteen years; neither she nor Carmen had ever wanted for anything, he had given them everything they could have ever asked for. But, like his youngest daughter, he had a tendency to lose his temper easily.

He had spoken to Santana's mother and repeated the same things he had said to the younger girl. That her lack of respect was getting out of hand, that he had no idea what to do with her anymore when it was clear she never listened to a single word he said.

In the end, Santana's parents had been able to have a civil conversation, Javier having calmed down while speaking to his ex-wife. The phone call had ended with Santana's mother suggesting that she move away from Miami for a while, claiming that she thought Santana needed to be away from a big city, and how she felt Santana would benefit more from being in a more suburban, conservative town, and how she could stay with her in Lima, Ohio.

When she thought back to that day, the two major things she remembered most were how her father had verbally expressed just how disappointed in her he was, she had always felt that her parents being disappointed in her was much worse than them being mad with her. The second thing she remembered was how it felt like her whole world had come crashing down around her.

The more she thought about that morning, the angrier she got, she knew that was no good; an angry Santana was a dangerous Santana. Whenever she got angry there was no rationality behind any of her actions. She would lash out at people in any way that she saw fit in that moment of blinding anger. She had, in the past, hit people, verbally abused them, thrown things, hit things, and found herself in detention or the principal's office more times than she could count.

Whenever she got angry, she always felt like a completely different person. It was like someone else took a hold of her body and mind. So, when she was in middle school, when her anger had first started to show, when her actions had gone beyond rationality, she had decided to name her second personality, Snixx.

Her anger was one of her main problems, she hated how easy it was to get her so angry. As she sat thinking about the events of that morning, she could feel her hands starting to shake slightly. Though she could tell this time, they weren't shaking from anger. No, what Santana was feeling now, was an overwhelming sensation of nerves.

Santana was being made to move out of the only home she had ever known so that she could go and live with her mother, in Lima, Ohio of all places.

Her parents had split when she and Carmen were very young, Santana had only been two and her sister had been four. Santana couldn't even remember a time when the four of them had lived together. She had known that at one point, her parents had been very much in love, and that nothing bad had happened between them, they had simply fallen out of love with each other, and had grown apart. They had maintained a close relationship for the sake of their children, but simply couldn't be together anymore.

After the separation, Maribel had moved back into her home town, Javier had raised his daughters in Miami, they had both seen, that at the time it would be for the best. With Maribel moving back home, and going to stay with her mother until she got back on her feet, Javier had been the most financially stable of the two of them.

With their parents living so far away, they only saw their mother on special occasions, though they would alternate Christmases, but spend every Thanksgiving with their mother. As well as spending half of their summer vacation with her. Though Santana hadn't been back to Ohio since she was thirteen, she hated Lima and everything about it.

She had still seen her mother, the older woman would visit Miami and spend her vacation in rental homes. She just hated being in Lima. It was so dull there.

But now, she didn't have any other choice but to go back, and this time, it would be for a lot longer than just twelve weeks. This time, she would be spending the entirety of the school year living with her mother.

She only had a week to settle into her, not so new, surroundings before starting her senior year at McKinley high school. To say she was dreading it would be a huge understatement. She had never been a fan of change, she liked routine, she liked everything to be a set way. But this was a _big_ change.

She took a deep breath, hoping that it would calm her nerves down. She glanced at her mother. The older woman was evidently a lot calmer than her daughter as she quietly sang along to Dr. Hooks, _Sharing The Night Together_, swaying slightly in her seat. Since the day she found out she would be moving, Santana had felt annoyed, mixed together with a sick, worrying feeling. As the days ticked by and the move got closer, the fear and anger only intensified.

But as she watched her mother, she felt a small smile spread across her face, she turned her head to look out of the window once more, before looking down at her hands and taking a deep breath.

"Are you sure that you don't mind doing this?" Santana asked quietly, finally finding her voice, she had greeted her mother with a soft hello, and they had exchanged all the obligatory pleasantries, all the 'how are you's?' and 'how have things been?' she looked back up at her mother's face, studying it, trying to read her mom's expression for any signs of uncertainty.

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I had minded, mija," she reassured her daughter, her voice soft as a comforting smile pulled at the corners of the older woman's lips.

Santana let out a breath of air that she hadn't even realised that she had been holding in, before returning the smile. "Well, thank you for this." she replied quietly, "I know that you didn't have to. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't, but you didn't have to."

"It's no problem," Maribel said, "I wouldn't have it any other way, you're my daughter." there was a beat of silence as Maribel took a deep breath before speaking again. "So. Other than the obvious that your father has already told me, how was life in Miami since I last saw you?" Her mom asked. Santana knew for sure that on the odd occasion that Carmen visited Lima, or called their mother she would have mentioned Santana at least once, she always did. But still, Santana knew her mom would want to hear the same words from her.

Santana sighed, "It was good." she said, almost half-heartedly, "I was the head cheerleader, despite only being a junior, I had pretty good grades, I was getting mainly A's with the occasional B." she informed her, she rested her head on the cold glass of the window before turning away from her mother.

Santana checked the time on her phone, she had checked online at just how far away her mother lived from the airport in Cleveland. She knew, that if she had her timings correct, and the estimated time of arrival was right, she was now only five minutes away from her mom's house in Lima.

Santana hadn't wanted her mom to meet her at the airport, or to drive her back to her home. She had originally wanted to take a bus, however, her parents had both quickly shot down that idea, each of them giving her a dry laugh when she had asked them. They had both quickly agreed that Maribel would meet her at the airport and drive her back to Lima Heights Adjacent. That way they could be sure that not only did Santana actually go back to Ohio, but she got there safely.

Santana was a wild card, and there was no saying that she would have actually gone straight to Ohio, with still a week left of summer vacation, the possibilities of Santana going somewhere completely different, and taking a short trip were too high for her parents to risk it. A heavy silence fell between the two of them. Santana had never known herself to be so quiet. But given the circumstances, and after not seeing her mom since she last visited her two daughters in May for Mother's Day, Santana wasn't entirely sure of what to say.

"Are you okay?" Maribel asked, her voice soothing as she tried to read Santana's expression, as her daughter sat, her spine rigid. "You seem… off." she said, struggling to find the right word to describe her daughter's distant behaviour.

Santana shrugged, "Scared, I guess." she replied, looking down at her hands and fiddling with her fingers.

"Why are you scared?" she asked, her voice soft.

Santana shrugged, "I don't really know anyone here anymore, I haven't been back here in five years, Mami." she said, the concern evident in her voice. "I guess that I am really scared that people will hate me." She admitted, "I am not exactly a nice person," she said with a humourless laugh. "My own dad doesn't even want me anymore."

Santana had never really had a problem with making friends in the past, they came easily to her, she had always been in with the popular clique, she was head cheerleader at her previous school, but still, she knew a lot of people had disliked her.

Most of the time, she felt like her so called 'friends' only spoke to her, or spent time with her in hopes of getting something more out of it, either invites to the hottest parties on Friday and Saturday nights, or, for a lot of the girls who were into girls, or were simply curious, sex. Nine times out of ten, her friends always got what they wanted. Santana didn't want to disappoint people, she had a large group of friends around her, even if they were wanting one thing from her, she didn't want them to abandon her.

Being alone was something that worried Santana. It was so easy for her to feel this way, she had been dropped by people so easily before. That was one of the many reasons that she avoided any close relationships, she had never had a real girlfriend, flings that lasted a month or so, but never any official labels. Back in Florida, she'd had a lot of friends with benefits style relationships, and that had always been enough for her.

"You stop that right now." Her mom said, "Your papi does want you around, we both just think that you need to be away from a big city like that." She sighed, "You used to have so many friends here. But then you just stopped visiting." She continued, "But don't worry. I am sure that people will like you now, just as they did back then."

Santana hoped her mom was right, and that she wasn't just saying these things because she felt like she was morally obligated to because she was her mother. It was true, when Santana had been thirteen she had been close friends with a lot of the neighbourhood kids, one in particular. But when she was thirteen, she wasn't as bitter, or angry as she was now at almost eighteen.

Santana looked at her hands once more before taking a deep breath. "Are you mad at me?" She asked, it had been a question that had been plaguing her since she saw her mom waiting for her. She knew her mom was a lot more laid back than her dad, she always had been. Nevertheless, she needed to know if she was a disappointment to them both or not. "Are you gonna send me away if you can't cope?" She asked in a sardonic manner.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Her mom said with a slight joking edge to her voice. She turned back to face Santana, who had a sad look in her dark eyes. The elder woman smiled weakly, "no." She said, "I am not going to send you anywhere."

Santana nodded her head slowly and turned away to look back out of the window. Most people couldn't have coped with Santana, her father being one of them, that much was clear to the girl.

Although, after her dad had calmed down slightly, which took him longer than Santana had hoped it would, and all of the arrangements had been made for her to move, her father had started saying that the only reason she had to leave was because she needed to be 'away from the temptations'.

Santana had no doubt in her mind that it wouldn't work. That she'd be able to find trouble in Ohio, too. "What about my abuela?" She asked.

"I didn't tell her anything," She replied, "she knows you were misbehaving and that your father wasn't happy, to which she replied 'he never is'." Santana's mom said with a small laugh, Santana couldn't help but smile at that. "But that's all she does know." Her mom smiled at her, "she was counting down the days to you getting here."

It wasn't a secret that Santana was their grandmother's favourite. In her abuela's eyes, she could do no wrong. Santana liked that fact; she wanted to keep it that way. She was almost positive that if the elder woman knew about her antics that her opinion on her would soon change.

Her abuelita, her dad's mom, was completely different, she had always preferred Carmen and that had only become clearer with that way her grandmother had started to treat her lately. Santana's father had told his mom about Santana's antics, such as partying and never knowing where she was or what time she would come home, if she would even be coming home that night.

Her abuelita had no problem with voicing her disapproval.

Neither of her grandmothers were aware of her sexuality and she planned to keep it that was for as long she possibly could. She didn't know how the older women would react to her little secret.

"Seriously?" Santana asked, a small smile crept along her lips.

Her mom nodded her head slowly, "Seriously." She said,

A comfortable silence fell between the two of them, Santana was suddenly thankful that her mother was driving her from the airport to her new home.


	2. Chapter Two

**Two**

Santana opened her eyes slowly only to be greeted with the view of a dingy white ceiling with the paint peeling away slightly. Dazed and confused, she looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, her heart rate picking up slightly. She sat bolt upright in her bed, the quick motion causing a slight head rush. She looked around the room, trying to get a better baring of her surroundings. Small white vanity pressed up against the far wall, large closet just adjacent to the vanity, pale pink walls. It wasn't the first time that Santana had woken up in a room that wasn't her own, and some of those mornings had been filled with regrets. However, this was definitely the most disappointing time. She still couldn't believe that she was back in her childhood bedroom, of her mother's house in the one horse town of Lima, Ohio.

She looked to her left, and her eyes fell onto a photo of herself and Carmen when they had both been much younger. It had been taken during one of the last times Santana had been here on Fourth of July weekend. Santana turned her mouth down in thought. She couldn't help but think of how much she had changed since then. She had always been a confident girl, who had loved to have fun. But she hadn't been as angry or as brutally honest when she was younger. Those personality traits, had come to her much later in life.

She took one last look around her room, thinking about how much her taste in decor had changed in the last five years. It clearly hadn't been changed at all since the last time she was in Lima, she figured that her mother had wanted to keep it the same for her, just in case she ever decided to come back, and of course, her mother wouldn't know how Santana would want her room to look now that she was almost eighteen. She screwed her face up in disgust at her thirteen-year-old self.

_The pink has gotta go. _She thought to herself, she hadn't been a big fan of the colour pink for the longest time, and she didn't know how much more of the pink she could take already. She wondered how long it would take to convince her mom to let her buy some new paint and bed sheets to make the room more her own. The only things she would keep from her room, would be the vanity and dresser, but for Santana to feel fully at home, the rest would have to go.

Santana stretched her arms slightly, her joints feeling slightly tense from sleep and her journey. The previous day felt like one big blur to her now and much more like a hazy dream than any kind of reality. It hadn't been a terrible day, not by any means at all, Santana would have been lying if she'd said that it had been a bad day. It had just been a long one, the travelling combined with the move had really taken its toll on her, and apparently her muscles too, she couldn't believe just how sore she was.

Yesterday, her mother had been nothing but welcoming to her, which had definitely made the day once she got to Ohio a lot easier for Santana. The elder woman hadn't seemed the slightest bit angry with her, or even disappointed really. More than anything, Maribel had just seemed happy to have her daughter back in Ohio.

Santana couldn't decide if she liked that her mother hadn't seemed disappointed in her or not. One the one had, she absolutely loved it, she _loved_ knowing that she had one parent who didn't seem to be sick of her antics, and didn't view her as a complete and utter fuck up, her mother knew about all of the things she had done in Miami and had still offered to take her in and have her stay there.

But the fact that her mother didn't seem to be too upset made Santana wonder if her mom had been waiting for something like this to happen. Santana couldn't help but wonder if her mom had been sat waiting for the phone call from Javier, telling her that he could no longer handle Santana living with him.

She slowly pushed herself out of her bed, and stretched her legs, letting out a low groan as she felt some of the tension ease from her muscles, maybe she'd ask her mom for a better mattress too when she redecorated her old… new room.

She ran a hand through her messy hair and walked over to the window, she opened the curtains and squinted against the bright light she was greeted with. Though the sun was nothing compared to what she was used to in Florida, it was still harsh to be greeted by nothing but bright sunlight that early on a morning, especially after the weather yesterday had been so dull and grey.

The sky was a bright blue shade, without a cloud in sight. Santana managed to crack a smile at that. Yesterday she had all but run through the airport parking lot to get to her mother's car, and ran from her mom's car into the house to try and avoid the rain. She couldn't spend the day outside, enjoying some sun.

The view from her new bedroom window was a lot less appealing than the one she'd had in Miami. Where she had lived before, she could see an amazing view of a sliver of Biscayne Bay as she looked out between houses.

She had attempted to draw it numerous times, however, her lack or artistic skills had always shot that horse in the face. But now when she looked out of her window, all she would see were more houses, and even Di Vinci couldn't make that look good, she rolled her eyes, before making a disgusted noise at the back of her throat.

She opened a window in hopes of letting some summer air into the stuffy room.

She slowly made her way to her suitcase, which she was yet to unpack, and began fishing around for an outfit for the day, throwing her clothes in every which way before she settled for a pair of dark blue, denim short shorts and a deep red, low cut and very tight tank top.

She laid her clothes out neatly on her bed, ignoring the pile of clothing she had left in her wake, and left the room swiftly deciding to get ready for the day. She showered quickly, once she had figured out how to use the now unfamiliar shower and dried her hair but allowed it to retain some of it's natural loose curls before tying it up into a loose messy bun on top of her head.

She applied a light amount of make-up before checking her reflection one last time in the mirror. She made sure to turn her body left and right, looking over her shoulder to check every inch of her body from every angle to make sure she looked okay.

She didn't care if all she was going to do was spend time in the house, or even outside on her own front porch she wanted to make sure that she looked good. Santana had always prided herself on her appearance. Always made sure her hair was done, that her make-up was flawless and that her outfit would draw attention from anyone and everyone.

There weren't very many people who had seen Santana without her make-up done, she couldn't even remember the last time she had been free of make-up around her own mother. All she knew was that her first morning back here in five years, was not going to be that day.

She sighed, feeling only somewhat content with how she actually looked, she tilted her head to one side, allowing her eyes to sweep over her reflection before rolling her eyes and walking out of her bedroom. She readied herself for what the day may bring for her. Knowing Lima, it definitely wouldn't be anything exciting.

She began making her way down the stairs, stopping dead in her tracks and swelling as she hit that one stair that always made a loud creaking noise. She had hated it since she was younger, she hated it so much, and she couldn't believe that her mother hadn't thought to get it fixed yet.

At one time in her life, Santana knew exactly where to place her foot to avoid hearing _that_ sound. She supposed that it was just one of those things that she was going to have to learn about this house all over again. There was no way she was going to put up with that creaky step for the next nine months.

She walked down the rest of the stairs gingerly, silently praying that in all the time she had been away, and all the time her mother had neglected to have that step fixed, that none of the other stairs had decided to start creaking as well.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she walked down the short hallway and peeked around the door to the kitchen, where she had caught sight of her mother standing by the breakfast bar, which was situated near the middle of the kitchen. Her mother was already dressed, wearing a tight grey pencil skirt, that stopped just below the knees and a white blouse with sleeves just past her elbows.

She turned to face the door and a broad smile spread across her face as she caught sight of her daughter. "Good morning, mija," she said cheerily as Santana entered the kitchen.

"Good morning," Santana replied, with a small sleepy smile on her lips. She sighed as she climbed onto one of the high stools for the breakfast bar.

"Did you sleep okay?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah. I guess." Santana replied with a small shrug, Santana had struggled to sleep (if she actually managed to sleep at all) for years. It was nothing new to her to only get a small amount of sleep, she had started to get used to it now, but still, she wondered if she would ever get a full night's sleep again. Even on the nights when she would stumble home drunk, and at three-in-the-morning she would still be up, and out of bed again at seven am. "I didn't get any less sleep than usual." she admitted with a small shrug, "I think I woke up like every hour until it was about six-fifteen, so I got up." she informed the older woman. Santana knew that her father had told her mom about her not sleeping. Even that had been a point of argument for the two parents. Santana's dad had wanted to give his daughter some medication to help her sleep, knowing that it had helped some of his own patients in the past. Maribel had prohibited him from doing so, saying she didn't want Santana to become dependant on medication, and that they could easily find a more natural, healthier solution.

"I'm sorry to hear that, mija," her mom replied, her voice soft and her smile apologetic as she took in Santana's tired expression. Her mom poured her daughter a glass of freshly made orange juice from the juicer.

Santana took a sip of the cold juice and sighed contently, "Where are you headed dressed like that." Santana asked pointing at her mom's outfit.

Maribel rolled her eyes and sighed, "I have to head to work, I was hoping I'd be able to spend your first full day with you, but unfortunately there's been some major mistakes made and now all senior members of staff have to go and fix everything."

"Is it that bad?" Santana asked, "I mean, you can't just stay here?"

Maribel shook her head, "I wish I could, sweetie, I really do. But we have some major connections that are really pissed at us now." she informed her daughter. "It's not anyone's fault really, just some of the interns who didn't have the right training from the people they should have, but the mistakes that were made could cost some people their jobs if not fixed."

Santana smiled sadly, "That's okay." she nodded her head, "Maybe we could do something for dinner tonight?" she asked with a small shrug. Last night she had been pretty tired after her flight and drive from the airport. She and her mom had gotten take-out food, watched something quick on TV and then Santana had set about making herself at home before trying her hardest to get some sleep.

"That sounds great, it might have to be a late one though." Maribel informed her daughter, "There's this great place in Lima, called Breadsticks," she smiled, "We'll go there and then maybe after we can come back here and have some popcorn and watch some movies."

Santana nodded her head, "That sounds awesome."

"So what are you planning on doing today until then?" Her mom asked as she finished her cup of coffee.

Santana shrugged, "Nothing, I guess," she mumbled through a yawn, "I have no friends to hang out with here, I have very little money and no car so I can't go shopping or anything. Plus, there isn't anything to do in Lima." she said with a small amount of bite edging it's way into her tone of voice.

Her mom sighed, "Okay, the friend thing is entirely your fault, if you had visited more, you would still have some friends," her mom replied with a small smile. "There are lots of things to do in Lima, you just need the money and a car." Her mom sighed, "and I have been looking at cars for you for your birthday. I have organised some stuff at work, and for a week or so I am leaving work a little early picking you up from school and then finishing my work from home in the office." she smiled at her daughter, "I want you to be settled in before getting a car, I want you to take this week and next week at least."

"Okay. Thank you." Santana smiled, "I appreciate it," she replied, "I guess, today I'll just sit out on the front porch and maybe do some reading." she shrugged.

"You read now?" Maribel asked, her eyes wide. "When you were younger you used to say that you couldn't think of anything more boring than reading."

"Yeah, I used to say a lot of things," Santana said putting emphasis on the past tense word. "I mean, apparently I also used to like pink." she pointed upwards, gesturing to where her bedroom would be. "I guess I've had a change of heart as I've grown up."

"Oh." Maribel smiled, "Has a girl had anything to do with these changes of heart?" she asked. Leaning forwards slightly and smiling brightly at her daughter. Santana rolled her eyes. Ever since Santana had started high school, her mom had always asked her about her love life. The questions only increased as she got older.

Maribel was the first person that Santana came out to; she felt that it was the wisest move to make. The way she saw it was this - if her mom had cared and had reacted badly, then she wouldn't really be losing too much, she rarely saw her mother anyway; if her mom reacted badly, then she would just leave it until after graduation when she was leaving for college.

However, if her mom accepted it, and she told her dad and he had the opposite reaction, then she knew that no matter how much she hated Lima, Ohio, and no matter how little she had seen her mom in her teenage life, she would still have somewhere to go, and would still have a home.

Lucky enough for Santana, both of her parents had accepted her fully, and had been fine with her being a lesbian.

"No." Santana replied bluntly; she had never been willing to change anything about herself for anyone else before. Her mindset was; I am what I am, take me or leave me. She never saw herself changing for anyone.

She wasn't a commitment type of girl, so why would she want to change herself when all of her previous relationships, had just been flings that had lasted a few months at most.

"Well I was just checking." She said, "I didn't know if that girl that your papi found you with was anyone special or not." Maribel said, watching her daughter closely, trying to read her reaction.

"Nope." Santana shook her head slowly, "She was just a friend."

"Yeah. She sure sounds like one." Her mom said giving her daughter a knowing look.

Santana's eyes widened at her mother's words and a deep blush crept up her neck and made its way to her face. "Oh. My. God." Santana said, looking away from the older woman.

"What, I am just saying, I wish I had friends like that."

"I-I'm gonna go now." Santana stammered as she rose to her feet she dashed out of the kitchen and ran back up the stairs taking them two at a time, calling a quick goodbye to her mother as she tried to get away from the older woman as quickly as possible.

She looked through her old book collection, wondering how many of them she could give to goodwill now, or how many she would want to keep for the sake of nostalgia. She screwed her face up at more than half of the books she'd had as a kid.

She rolled her eyes before moving to her bags and looking through the small collection of books she'd brought with her for the flight. She grabbed an old, worn copy of _The Fault in our Stars_ and headed out to the front porch to read.

She couldn't really be sure how long she had been outside for, though it was cooler than she was used to, and much breezier, she had been enjoying the fresh air and somewhat milder humidity of Lima so much more than the tropical climate she was used to.

In Miami, Santana always felt like she couldn't take one step outside without feeling gross from the blistering sun and lack of air.

With the relaxing weather, and silence on the street, rather than the hustle and bustle she was used to living in a major city, she had found it easy to be lost in the world within her book. She was just about the turn the page of a new chapter when part of her light became blocked out by a silhouette of someone.

"Excuse me." Santana tried her best to ignore the bright, cheery voice. Her eyes never leaving the page in front of her. After a beat of silence the voice spoke up once more. "Excuse me." It said again, though this time a little more annoyance filled it's tone.

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed, "What?" She snapped she closed the book around her fingers and looked up to see a girl with blonde hair, who looked roughly the same age as she was, standing in front of her.

Santana's initial thought was _Holy fuck._ Her second thought, and possibly the loudest thought running around her mind, was how much she regretted snapping at this girl who was, in Santana's humble opinion, maybe the most beautiful girl she had ever laid eyes on.

"I was just wondering if you'd seen a dog around here?" The blonde girl asked, she hadn't appeared to be taken aback, or even ruffled by Santana's harsh tone, which was unusual, but Santana couldn't help but feel relieved that the other girl hadn't run away with her tail between her legs like most people did. "My cousin left the door open and my dog got out." she explained, "I've been looking for a while now."

"No, I haven't sorry." Santana replied, shaking her head eyes shifted down to the bright red lipstick that the other girl was wearing, then back up to her dark eye-make-up, that only served to make her eyes look bigger. She glanced over the other girl's outfit; black skinny, ripped jeans, a purple Ramones shirt, and a pair of black Doc Martens.

She definitely hadn't been expecting to encounter someone like this in Lima, she knew it was a very conservative, reserved town, that had the appearance of always being all-American. "Are you sure?" The blonde asked.

Santana nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I mean, I think I'd know if I'd seen a dog or not."

"Fuck." the other girl mumbled, she sighed and glanced around the street quickly before turning her attention back to Santana, "Can you keep an eye out for me?" she asked.

"Yeah." Santana replied almost too quickly for her own liking, she shook her head slightly and cleared her throat, "Yeah, I guess." she watched as a small smile appeared on the blonde's face. Santana couldn't help but notice how pretty her smile was, however, small it may be. "Uh, what kind of dog is it?" she asked. Santana found herself wanting to help this girl however she could, she couldn't even explain why. She didn't know this girl, it wasn't like she could ask for anything in return for finding the dog, unless…Santana quickly found herself shaking the thought out of her head when the girl spoke again.

"She's a grey and white Husky, with uh, blue eyes." she explained, "She's only a puppy, she's only just had all of her shots to make sure she can go outside." Santana could hear the worry in her voice as she spoke.

"Okay… What's her name?" Santana asked.

"Her name?"

Santana nodded her head, "Yeah it'd help if I knew her name so I could call to her if I see her." Santana replied with a small smile.

"Her name is Coochie" She admitted, she screwed her face up slightly in a way that Santana found adorable.

"Okay, well if I see a grey and white husky, I'll be sure to go around screaming that name." she replied sardonically. "I mean, that's not embarrassing at all." she smiled slightly.

The blonde nodded her head, "Oh god, I know. I hate it, but we sort of left the name to a hat draw and I guess someone wrote Coochie as some sort of a joke, thinking that the odds would be in my favour. But apparently, I have terrible luck and I actually picked that name out. So now my dog is called Coochie." she explained, laughing lightly.

"Who the hell would do that?"

"My cousin."

"The same one who let your dog out?" Santana asked, "Because if so, I think your cousin might be a little bit of an asshole."

"Oh, no, a different cousin." She replied, "I have a lot of cousins, the one who let my dog out is only four, and didn't really know any better. My aunt wasn't exactly watching her very carefully. The cousin who is responsible for the name is sixteen, he is a bit of an ass though, so you got that right."

Santana nodded her head, "See, I knew it." she replied with a half-hearted shrug, a light chuckle escaped Dani's lips. "What names did you want for your dog then?" she asked. She couldn't stop herself from asking this girl more questions, she found herself getting lost in what the other girl had to say, she knew it was all down to her raspy voice and pretty brown eyes.

"I had no name ideas. Like seriously, none." she admitted, "That's why I did the hat thing, I left it to chance and that happened. Out of curiosity though, once the name had been picked, I had to look at some of the other names. I literally got one of the worst."

"That's unlucky."

Dani nodded her head slowly, "It is. It really is." she replied with a smile. She tilted her head slightly and bit her bottom lip as she studied Santana closely. The dark haired girl shifted under the blonde's gaze. "You haven't changed much. Do you know that?" she asked, shaking her head slightly as her eyes roamed over Santana's body. "Well, apart from the obvious." she rolled her eyes with a soft chuckle.

"Wait," Santana furrowed her eyebrows slightly, "Am I supposed to know you?" she asked. She tried to keep her voice soft, she didn't want to offend this girl, or embarrass her if she had her mistaken for someone else.

"You don't remember me do you?" she asked, once again, she didn't falter at Santana's words, her confidence evident in that moment, she was sure she was talking to the right person, Santana could see that from the look in her eyes. But why this girl knew her, Santana had no idea. "I can't really say that I am too surprised about that." she sighed. "It's me, Dani."

Santana quirked a perfectly shaped eyebrow at the other girl, "Look, I am really sorry." she replied, shaking her head slowly. "It might sound rude, but I can't place you." she admitted gesturing to her head.

Santana saw her expression falter just a little, "Oh God, please tell me I have the right girl." she said, a small, slightly embarrassed smile crossing her face. "You are Santana Lopez, right?" she asked. Santana nodded her head, her eyebrows furrowing tightly over her eyes. "It's me, Danielle Fabray." she said, "Please say you remember that?" She said, laughing nervously.

A puzzled look crossed Santana's face, she thought back to all the people that she had known when she had visited when she was younger. There had been so many people she spent time with, so many people Santana had been close to. Now that she thought back to her memories of Lima, one girl came to her mind stronger than anyone else. This girl, was someone who Santana had always called her 'Ohio best friend' this girl, was Danielle Fabray.

Santana's eyes grew wider, and a small smile spread across her face as she looked at the blonde haired girl. So many thoughts whirled around her head, each one trying to speak louder than the last, to be the center of Santana's attention when it came to Dani. Finally, one singular thought won.

_Danielle Fabray got hot. _

"Oh my god." Santana exclaimed, she jumped up from the bench on her porch, dropping her book as she moved. She pulled the blonde girl into a tight hug before she could stop herself. She released her quickly and took a step back to get a better look at her now she wasn't sitting down anymore. "Well, hot damn, look at you." She said, Dani laughed at the other girl's reaction. "I mean, Jesus Christ you look so… well, I mean, you've _really_…" Santana said, Dani just nodded her head slowly, Santana sighed, "You've changed."

"Yeah, I know." Dani replied with her signature beaming smile still held in place. That was one thing Santana was glad to see hadn't changed about this girl in the last five years. Santana couldn't help but notice how her smile was just as infectious as it had been when they were kids. Other than that, this could be an entirely new girl standing in front of her. "People kept saying you were coming back, y'know." Dani said, "My grandma Joan more than anyone else, I mean, she seriously wouldn't shut up about you."

Santana furrowed her eyebrows at the shorter girl, "Wait, how'd she know?" she asked. Santana hadn't seen Joan Fabray in years, in fact, she hadn't even seen her the last time she had visited Lima, and she definitely hadn't thought about her in years. She had never been a fan of Joan Fabray, she was a cold woman, with a harsh voice and sharp features. She wondered, why the elderly woman would be talking about her.

Dani shrugged her shoulders, "Our grandmas are pretty close, so I am guessing that your abuela told my grandma, and then my grandma told me that you were coming back." she smiled, "They play bridge with each other… a lot of the old broads do, they all get together and talk about their grandkids."

"Guess I better stop being a disappointment then?" Santana offered dryly.

Dani nodded her head, "I would appreciate that, being the fuck up is kind of my thing, if grandma Joan can't complain the loudest she won't be happy." the blonde deadpanned.

Santana chuckled quietly, "I'll remember that." Santana opened her mouth to say something, but once again, her words seemed to be lost. A car horn honking snapped Dani's attention away from Santana.

"Look, I should really get going." Dani sighed pointing in the direction of the honking car, "I have a dog to find, and I am guessing that sound means that my search party is getting pretty pissed."

"Yeah, you don't want to keep them waiting around."

"No." Dani said quietly shaking her head, "I'll see you later?" Dani said with a small smile. She pulled Santana into another hug, her lips, just inches away from Santana's when she whispered. "I'm glad you're back. I really missed you." Before pulling away and walking in the direction of the black convertible.

* * *

**I decided to make Quinn and Dani relatives in this story (They're both seniors in high school, but their family relationship will be explained later) Hope you like it so far. Big thank you to my amazing girlfriend for giving me support while writing this story and for editing this chapter for me. She writes Dantana fics too, you should go check them out... Her username is Shananigans402 she has 3 amazing stories: Say You Won't Let Go, What's A Lebanese To Do? and I'm On Fire And I Know That It Burns **


	3. Chapter Three

**Three**

Dani climbed back into her sister's car with a beaming smile on her face, she had known Santana was coming back into town, and she'd been excited at the thought, but now that she was actually here, she couldn't quite believe it was true. She also couldn't help but feel slightly smug knowing that she had been right. Her sister, Quinn, had been convinced that it was all just rumours. That there was absolutely no way Santana Lopez would ever willingly be back in Lima, even for one weekend let alone the entirety of senior year. Dani just hoped that now Santana was back, it wasn't just for a fleeting visit.

She hadn't seen the dark haired girl in five years, and in those five years Santana hadn't really changed that much, apart for a few obvious assets that had been enhanced with the kind, helping hand of puberty and growing up. Dani had noticed that somehow, Santana seemed to be better looking than she had ever thought possible. For as long as Dani could remember, she had always been in awe of Santana's appearance.

Dani had always been drawn to Santana, and when she was younger, she had never fully understood the reason why. All she knew was that everytime Santana came to town to visit, she felt an insatiable need to be with her, close to her, or around her; all she wanted was to be her friend and to get the chance to get to know her better. Everyone around Lima had known they were the best of friends, and of course, on the odd occasion, Quinn had been the third member of their little trio. But no one could come between Santana and Dani.

She had always thought Santana was an insanely pretty girl, there were some days that small actions Santana did would make Dani's heart race. There was one day in particular that stood out in Dani's mind, stronger than any other moment she had shared with Santana during their friendship.

The last time Santana had visited Lima, there had been no Quinn, and definitely no Carmen. Carmen had been getting ready to leave for college, and Quinn was at cheer camp, Dani had neither the inclination or need to go, and so she stayed in Lima. The second to last day Santana was in Lima, they decided to go down to their den rather than spending the day at the Fabray's house hanging out by their pool.

They'd found what would become 'their den' years ago, they'd walked into the clearing behind Santana's mother's house when they'd been bored one afternoon. They'd only been walking about five minutes before finding a group of trees and bushes, that had a small break in them.

Dani's curiosity had gotten the better of her, and so she had decided to take a look at where it lead, Santana and Quinn had followed her without hesitation.

What they'd found, was a group of tall trees, all close together, their branches overlapping in the sky, creating a green canopy above a large circle of land, from that part of the clearing, they could only just see the roof of Maribel Lopez's house. They quickly realised that meant they were out of view of the older woman.

As time had passed by that summer, they had visited the clearing frequently, and had eventually taken some old plastic chairs from Santana's garden there so they had something other than the ground to sit on.

Before long, this place had become their place of solitude, just theirs Dani, Santana and Quinn's.

Some days they would retreat to their den and spend hours at a time, sitting there talking, drinking soda, and eating junk food. Dani had always loved spending time in the den. It was their little place, away from anyone else. No parents, no rules, no prying eyes watching their every move.

It was on Santana's second to last day in Lima, in the den, that she had kissed Dani, it was quick and it was fleeting. Their lips had barely grazed before the dark haired girl had pulled back grinned at her, and ran away. Dani had sat speechless for a split second, her heart pounding in her chest before she pushed herself up from one of the little plastic chairs and chased after her.

At the time, the kiss hadn't meant much to Dani, apart from the fact that it had made her head spin and her heart pound in her chest. When she was younger, she had no idea why Santana kissing her made her feel this way. She had put it down to the excitement of how truly shocking it had been and the fact that Santana had even dared to do anything like that.

Of course, now that Dani was older, she understood it all a lot more now. Now she knew why she had always wanted to be around Santana, and why she had wanted so badly to be her friend, and why that kiss had made her head spin, her heart race and why it had left her slightly breathless. She had been crushing on Santana. She understood now, that no matter how fleeting that first kiss had been, or how chaste it would be compared to other kisses she would have later in life, it had meant something to her even then, she had definitely been interested in Santana as more than a friend.

It had taken Dani up until the age of sixteen to figure out that she was a lesbian, during a tipsy game of spin the bottle with her friends. She had ultimately had to kiss a girl, a girl that once again she had been in awe of and felt drawn to. She had been wondering about her sexuality for a while, but that night, when their lips had met, everything seemed to fall into place for Dani, and for the first time that she knew of, she found herself crushing on another girl.

That crush had stemmed to a relationship that had lasted six months before they ended it and decided to just be friends. This girl had been Dani's first everything with a girl, and since then, she knew she was never going to be with a boy again.

By the time that Dani figured out her sexuality, accepted it in herself, and fully understood why she had always been so drawn to Santana, she hadn't seen the dark haired girl for three years.

She figured at that point, that she would never see her again - that was until her grandma Joan had said something about Santana Lopez making her grand return to Lima. Dani had hardly been able to contain her excitement. Even if she never got the chance to be more than friends with Santana, she was just happy that she was going to have her friend back after five years apart.

She still couldn't quite believe that she had actually spoken to, and had seen, Santana Lopez. She also couldn't believe that someone could be as undoubtedly gorgeous as Santana, she knew that anyone could see Santana was attractive, it wasn't an opinion, it was a simple fact. She definitely couldn't deny her attraction to girls anymore, not that she denied that much anyway. Her friends at school knew about her sapphic tendencies, as did her sister Quinn, and even her cousin… Dani knew that's why he'd put Coochie in the hat as a potential name for her dog.

In fact, the only people who didn't know were the rest of Dani's relatives, including her eldest sister, Frannie. She had trusted Quinn and Eric with her secret, and so far, they had both done amazing jobs at keeping that secret between the three of them.

She knew that everyone else in her family were very conservative and religious and would be anything but accepting of Dani and her sexuality. She was sure that they would die if they were to find out she was a lesbian and she was also sure that she would be dead too, or that at the very least, her life wouldn't be worth living.

Of course, she knew that one day they would all find out, but she was hoping to keep that day for when she graduated college and was living somewhere far away from Ohio.

There were many secrets that she, Eric and Quinn were hoping to keep from their family, they had all done some things that they were sure would make their parent's heads spin. Of course, Eric's biggest secrets were his drinking, smoking, and casual use of marajuana.

Dani and Quinn knew that their father's head would explode if he knew about all the drinking they had done and all the parties they'd been to, not to mention the fact that neither of them were actually members of the celibacy club. Well, not anymore they weren't. Oh, the lies the Fabray girls were willing to tell to keep their parents happy.

Dani and Quinn had always seen each other as best friends as well as half-sisters, and as close as they were to each other, you couldn't have found two siblings that were less alike than Dani and Quinn were. While they did hold some similarities, like their fair skin, pretty smiles, light hair, and bright personalities, Quinn and Dani were very different people.

Quinn was head of the Cheerios in her junior year, and was hoping to be named captain again in her senior year, or at the very least she was hoping to be named co-captain. She had been nominated for, and had won, both homecoming queen and prom queen in her junior year and was without a doubt, one of the most popular girls in the school. Which, was a far cry from who she had been in middle school: loner, outcast, and easy target to bullying.

Dani, on the other hand, had no interest in sports or being on the prom court, or any other kind of court for that matter. She didn't include herself with the popular people, focusing more on the creative aspects of school, being a theatre kid, an artist, and of course, being in glee club. Other than the name Fabray, Glee was the only thing that had linked Dani and Quinn together at school, they would have idle chit chat in the halls, or in any classes they may share, but wouldn't really spend any time with each other in school unless they were in glee club.

Dani had joined out of a passion for music and performance;while Quinn had enjoyed those things too, fear had taken over her as she worried about how she had been treated in middle school. She hoped it wouldn't happen again and knew that whenever she had Dani with her, she would be okay. In the end, she had actually found herself loving glee club and when her fear subsided she had wanted to stay as a member of The New Directions simply for the love of it, no longer worrying about being bullied and being alone.

In middle school, Quinn had been bullied for the way that she had looked, of course, in middle school she had gone by her first name, Lucy. It was only after her so called peers had picked on her, giving her a cruel nickname- Lucy Caboosey- in relation to her weight, that she decided to use her middle name, and started to ask everyone to call her Quinn. She transferred schools, as did Dani, and started her high school life as Quinn Fabray and hadn't looked back since.

"What took you so long?" Quinn asked as Dani climbed into her car, "I thought you were just gonna ask if they'd seen your dog and leave?"

"And I did." Dani replied with a small smile on her lips, "But the person I asked, happened to be someone we both used to know very well, and we talked for a little bit." she explained for a shrug.

"I have no idea who we both know well enough in Lima Heights Adjacent that you would stand around talking to." Quinn commented with a roll of her eyes. There was only one place in Lima that was a truly exceptional place to live, and that was the private estate the Fabrays resided in, among them were other wealthy, well to do people, with well paying jobs. Everywhere else was sort of average. That was until you got to Lima Heights, or Lima Heights Adjacent. It wasn't that they were bad places to live housing wise, they were just known for being slightly rougher around the edges than other places within Lima.

"Well, think about it." Dani shrugged, "They have two kids, girls," she continued, "One was very close to us until she stopped visiting her mother, and never came back." Quinn widened her eyes, as the thought of Santana Lopez crept it's way into her head.

"She's actually here?" Quinn asked.

Dani nodded her head slowly, smiling, "Yes. She is actually here, I told you Grandma Joan wasn't lying, but you didn't want to listen."

"Yeah, because it's Grandma Joan, she's not exactly the most with it person in her old age." she snarked. Dani rolled her eyes and sighed, "I'm guessing she hasn't seen the dog then?" Quinn asked.

Dani shook her slowly, "No, but she said she would keep an eye out for her. I just hope we find her." Dani replied with a pout, "I am so worried and I am so not friends with Oliver anymore."

"Please, you say that but you know the next time you see him you're gonna be reading to him again." Quinn replied in a knowing tone. "You're his favourite, and I know that when you look into those big blue eyes, you're not gonna say no to the kid."

"Yeah I know." Dani replied with a sigh, "Can you at least let me pretend to be mad?" she asked. "I need to pretend to help with the stress of losing my dog."

Quinn nodded her head slowly, "Okay fine, you can pretend to be mad at him." Dani sighed and gave her a small, mumbled thank you in response. There was a beat of silence before Quinn spoke again. "Although, he is only four you know?" Quinn asked, turning her head slightly to her sister glaring at her. Her dark eyes boring into her face.

* * *

They had been driving around Lima for hours, and they'd still had no luck in finding the small grey and white dog. Dani didn't understand how her dog could have possibly gone so far. She knew that while Coochie would grow to be a decent size in adulthood, but at the minute, her dog was tiny. She had purposefully picked the runt of the litter, finding the one with the stubbiest legs, that was the most uncoordinated as it ran around trying to play with the other dogs. She had thought that with such tiny legs, her dog couldn't possibly have gone far, and yet, they had been searching most of the day to no avail.

"I am so sorry we haven't found her yet." Quinn spoke softly, she tried to keep her eyes on the road, checking her mirrors and looking for the little dog, not daring to look at her sister when she had so much other stuff on her mind.

Dani shook her head slowly and sighed, "Just forget it, Quinn," she turned to face the taller girl and chewed on her bottom lip for a brief second before speaking again, "Let's just go home and hope that one of the many people I have asked today finds her and brings her back to us, or at least puts out a notification that they've found a dog."

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked, "I really don't mind driving you around a little longer. I mean, I wanna find her too." she divulged, "I love that little dog, and while she doesn't like me nearly as much as she likes you, I'm still worried and I want to help you in any way that I can." she spoke softly, "Even if that means driving you around all day and all night."

Once again Dani shook her head, "No. Let's just go back." she sighed and checked the time on her phone, "Dad said they had reservations at seven, it's five now, we might as well go home and see everyone for a little longer before we're left in the house alone."

Quinn nodded her head slowly, keeping her voice soft, "Okay, whatever you want, but just know that even if it's later tonight when everyone else has gone, and Mom and Dad are out, if you wanna go searching for Coochie again we can."

Dani smirked slightly, "I mean, I always wanna look for Coochie." she joked.

"Really, even now?" Quinn asked, Dani gave her a questioning look, "Even when your dog is missing, you're gonna make dirty jokes?" Dani nodded her head in response, a small smile on her face. "You're incredible."

Dani stayed silent as she looked out of the window, hoping more than anything that she would spot the dog as Quinn rounded the corner and began to head back in the direction of the estate they lived on.

* * *

"Mom, Dad, we're back!" Quinn called out cheerfully as the two girls walked into the house. "Hello!" she tried again. There was a beat of silence before a slender blonde woman walked out of the living room and came to join the two girls in the entrance of the house.

She looked between them, looking slightly frazzled, "Have you found that dog yet?" she asked, her question directed at Dani more than Quinn, she stood wide eyed watching the two girls as she put her earrings in. Both girls shook their heads slowly. Dani's mood dropped even more when the older woman sighed in exasperation.

"Well, it's not like I'm not trying," she all but yelled, "I have been looking for that dog most of the day; literally, I have been out on the streets for hours looking for Coochie." Quinn snorted with laughter from the side of her sister, before gaining control over her laughter. "I have asked people all over this town if they can help find her, hopefully someone does and puts up a post somewhere that they found a dog." Dani continued, "If she isn't back by tomorrow morning, I'm gonna make some posters and put them up around town."

"I know that you're trying, Dani, I know how much you love that dog. And these things do just happen, especially when children are around, I don't want you to worry, too much." She walked forwards and put her hands on Dani's shoulders, "I am sure that someone will bring her back to you." she smiled before pulling the shorter blonde into a warm, comforting hug.

Dani nodded her head slowly, "I know, I know that someone will find her eventually." she sighed, "I can't be worried though, I know I need to try and calm down, but I just don't know how."

"I get that, sweetie, but you just need to stay positive in times like this," she smiled.

Dani opened her mouth to say something before she was cut off by a gruff voice shouting from up stairs, "Judy!" there was a beat of silence before the voice sounded out again. "Judy!" this time getting closer, Dani looked up to see her father almost running down the stairs, fastening his cufflinks. "Have you seen my red tie?" he asked, looking up at his wife.

"No, I haven't." she replied, she smoothed out her husband's suit, "And now I know who Dani inherited her ability to lose things from." she teased smiling, "And I am sure, both things will turn up safe and sound." Judy smiled at Dani before heading upstairs to help her husband look for his tie.

"Still no luck, sweetie?" He asked looking at his daughter, who simply shook her head slowly. "Well I am sure she'll show up." he said, trying to keep his daughter calm. "If she's still missing tomorrow, I will go out and help you find her. How's that sound?"

"Thanks, Dad."

He placed a light, quick kiss to the top of Dani's head and then Quinn's before he walked away from both of his daughters. "Well, at least there's that." she sighed and turned to Dani. "Everything will be okay."

The four Fabrays made their way into the living room where Dani's aunt Julia sat, with her faithful chihuahua sitting shivering on her knee, and her cousin, Eric sitting on the chair adjacent to his mother.

"Any luck, Danielle?" Julia asked, looking over her shoulder to see the four blondes walking into the room, Dani shook her head slowly and took a seat next to her aunt, earning herself a low snarl, and a high pitched bark from the small dog.

"We have looked everywhere." Quinn all but groaned, "But nothing, I have no idea where that dog could have gotten to, she's so tiny, and clumsy…" Quinn widened her eyes as realization washed over her, "Dani, she's you but in puppy form."

"What? No she isn't." Dani replied incredulously.

"Dude, she totally is." Eric replied laughing.

"Eric, that's not nice." Julia scolded her son in her usual, dreamy, less than threatening voice. Dani never understood why her aunt tried to be stern with Eric, he rarely listened to her. She had no umph to her voice, even when mad, she was meek, quiet and always sounded like her head was up in the clouds.

"You really have no idea where that dog is, and you've been out looking all day?" Eric asked, Dani nodded her head slowly. "Damn, that is rough." He smirked turning his head to face Dani, "Get it? Ruff."

"Fuck off, you're not even funny."

"Dani." Judy warned, her tone cold. So different from her sister-in-law's voice, Dani and Quinn rarely needed to be told more than once to stop something. Judy's cold voice and harsh glare had been enough to get the two girls to behave all their lives. Of course, it did help that they felt her icy blue eyes cutting into them whenever she gave them that one warning look.

"Well, I hope for your sake that we find her." Dani's aunt Julia said, "I don't know how I would feel if I lost Ninja." the older woman said as she scratched behind her dog's ear. Dani knew her aunt had a highly unhealthy attachment to her dog, always carrying him around in her arms or in a tiny bag, and always dressing him up in hats or little coats. She knew there was no chance she would ever lose her dog. She was also convinced that her aunt Julia would be more concerned if Ninja went missing, than she would be if her own son went missing.

Dani sighed, "Thanks. I really don't wanna talk about it anymore though, is it okay if we talk about something else?"

"Of course, dear, we don't want you worrying for another minute." Her aunt replied, her voice slipping into a cooing sound as she looked down at the tiny dog on her knee and continued to stroke behind his ear.

"Yeah, Dan, we all know how much you love Coochie." Eric said with a smirk, once again, Quinn struggled to contain her laughter. Dani knew that she could expect more jokes like this in her life especially since she had been unlucky enough to draw that name out of the hat.

Of course, no one else in that room other than Eric, Dani, and Quinn understood the double entendre. Nor did they understand why Eric had put that name into the hat. Dani wasn't even sure that the elder relatives in the room knew what it meant. All she did know was that in that particular moment, she wasn't in the mood for anymore lesbian jokes.

"Oh fuck off." Dani snapped.

"Danielle Louise Fabray, enough is enough." her father yelled, "I know that you're worried, and probably a little annoyed that you haven't found her yet, but there is really no need for language like that. You have already been told to stop using that word, so stop." Russell looked between his daughter and his nephew, "Now apologise, both of you."

"Sorry that I said you love Coochie, Dani, I realize that was wrong." Eric replied sardonically, once again making a snide joke at the expense of his cousin.

"And I'm sorry I told you to fuck off… twice." Dani replied, "and for saying it again now." she flashed a mocking smile at her cousin and then at her dad, "Is that better?" she asked, her tone of voice letting everyone know that she didn't really care.

"It would be better if you meant it." Russell replied checking his watch, "Judy, dear we'd better get going, we've got reservations for seven." he reminded her. Julia locked at her own watch before standing up slowly.

"Eric, we'd better get going, too, your father will be home from work soon and he'll want dinner." Julia gave Dani a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "Let me know when you find, Coochie, sweetie."

Dani nodded her head slowly, "I will." she smiled.

Julia made her way over to Quinn and gave her a hug and quick kiss on the cheek too before hugging Judy and then walking over to her brother, pulling him into a tight hug. "I will see you next week, Russell." she turned back around to face the three blonde women, "You too, girls." she smiled.

Dani and Quinn stood up slowly, watching as everyone left their home. Once it was just them and their father standing by the entrance, he turned to his daughters, "There's some money under the clock on the mantle in the living room," he explained, "Get yourself something nice for dinner-"

"Dad." Dani cut the man off from what he was about to say, "We're eighteen, we're old enough to look after ourselves. You don't need to worry about us, just go have a nice night with Judy, we will be fine."

He sighed and gave Dani a knowing look, "I wish you wouldn't call her that." he said softly, "You could always call her mom."

Dani shrugged and shook her head slowly, "I can't do it, sorry,"

He sighed before kissing her on the forehead and then doing the same to Quinn, "I'll see you both soon. Have fun." he smiled slightly before walking out of the house, leaving his daughters alone.

There was a beat of silence as Dani and Quinn made their way back into the living room, "So… takeout and a movie?" Quinn asked. "I know you're probably not in the mood for it, but I thought maybe we could watch some comedies, maybe cheer you up?" Quinn offered.

Dani nodded her head, a small smile playing on the corner of her lips. "That sounds awesome." she replied, there was a beat of silence before the shorter Fabray girl spoke again. "As long as I get to pick the first movie?"

"Deal." Quinn replied with a soft smile.


	4. Chapter Four

**Four**

The way that Santana saw it, she had a productive day; after all, what could be better than soaking up the sun with a good book? In Santana's eyes, very little. Reading was one of the few recreational activities that Santana did that wasn't potentially damaging; everything else she did could either get her into trouble or get her seriously injured.

She'd found it hard to concentrate though, ever since she'd seen Danielle Fabray again she couldn't get the girl out of her head. She had to will herself to keep re-reading certain parts of her book. The words would seep into her eyes, but would never actually instill themselves into her brain. The only thing in her brain was the sight of the blonde haired girl. The last time she had seen Danielle, she had definitely not looked like _that_.

She'd been pretty, that was one thing that Santana remembered crystal clearly, Danielle had always been a _very_ pretty girl. She'd heard other people talking about how pretty Danielle was, always comparing her to her sisters, Lucy and Frannie. Of course, when comparing her to Frannie, it had always been in a more positive way, people talked about how pretty they both were, but how they were pretty in their own way. But when they compared her to Lucy, it was somewhat different.

Danielle and Lucy had always been as different as chalk and cheese, Danielle was petite, had deep brown eyes, with the softest features and the most perfect teeth Santana had ever seen. While Lucy was tall, brown haired, hazel eyed, a slightly larger nose, thick braces, and to put it politely, was a few pounds heavier than being considered just curvey.

When they were younger, she had heard the shorter girl stick up for her sister countless times, people were often saying mean things about Lucy, but once Danielle had started to show her fiery side, a lot of the kids they knew wouldn't dare say anything. Santana had always found it quite funny how so many people had been scared of someone as tiny as Danielle Fabray. She'd always had a large personality and confidence in spades, that was something Santana had always admired about her.

Danielle had always been so confident, while Lucy had been meek and quiet, and then there was Frannie, the eldest Fabray girl, Santana didn't remember her nearly as much as she remembered Lucy and Danielle. Frannie was six years older than Santana, Lucy and Danielle, which meant the last time that Santana had been in Lima, Frannie had been at college and definitely hadn't wanted to spend any time with thirteen-year-olds.

Like Danielle, Frannie had always been called pretty, though Santana had never seen why people raved about the older girl's looks like they did. Her big eyes and long, sharp nose had always reminded Santana of a ferret. She supposed it was the blonde hair and blue eyes paradigm that people focused on when they looked at Frannie, that and she was tall and slender, the look of many models Santana had seen on the cover of magazines and walking the runway at fashion week. But other than that, she really didn't know why anyone had ever put Francesca on a pedestal. She wondered, if like Danielle, Frannie had gotten any better looking with age. Or if Danielle had just had a major glow up and had been hit hard with the 'well done puberty' stick.

The sun had started to set in the sky when Santana closed her book, she had finally finished it, leaving her mind free to wander. However, it always wandered back to her childhood friend. She wondered when she might see her again, she hoped it would be before school started. She so badly wanted to get to know her once again since they had been so close as kids.

Whenever Santana was in Lima, they had been inseparable. Some of Santana's best memories from her time in Lima involved Danielle Fabray; in fact, come to think about it, _all_ of her best memories in Lima involved the blonde haired girl.

She had been one of her best friends and she had thrown that away for the simple fact that she had found Lima, Ohio to be the most boring place on Earth. She had often thought about Danielle in her younger teen years, but as she got older, became wildly popular, and had made a reputation for herself, she hadn't thought about much else other than herself.

In the last six years Santana had become ridiculously selfish.

It was possibly one of her biggest flaws, half of the time, she didn't even really care about her friends, and she definitely hadn't cared about the string of girls she had slept with. But at one point, she had cared very much about the small blonde haired girl in Lima.

She didn't know exactly when she had stopped wondering what Dani was doing, or how she was doing, she just knew that at some point in the six years that she was away, the blonde haired girl had been erased from her thoughts.

She looked around her for a moment, taking in the sight of her mom's front yard, the houses on the street, how different everything looked compared to her home in Miami. The small street, all the white picket fences, how everything seemed to look like it was stuck in the nineteen fifties; as much as Lima looked like it was stuck in the fifties, from what she remembered, the people of Lima, and their belief system seemed to be stuck in the fifties, too.

She wondered if the small town was still just as conservative as she remembered.

A high pitched, quiet bark pulled Santana from her musings, she looked in the direction of the noise and saw a small, grey and white husky puppy with the brightest blue eyes Santana could have imagined. It stood about three houses away from where she was, wagging its tail as it looked around itself, moving slightly skittishly on the spot.

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed, she couldn't actually believe what she was about to do. She crouched down slightly and started to pat her legs, "Coochie!" She called in a high-pitched, playful voice, trying her hardest to gain the small dog's attention. "Coochie, Coochie!" She called.

She might not know the boy responsible for this dog's name, but god did she hate him at that moment, she firmly stood by her statement she had made hours prior to this. Danielle's cousin, was definitely an asshole.

The puppy snapped her head up in the direction of Santana; she tilted her head to the side, her big blue eyes looking right at the brunette. Santana couldn't stop herself from smiling at the dog's cuteness. She called her name once more, and Coochie bounded up to her clumsily. Santana let out a small chuckle as she saw the dog lolling towards her with its tongue hanging out.

_Cute dog for an even cuter girl_, Santana mused.

She scooped the dog up quickly, hoping that she wouldn't turn and give her a nasty bite, after all, the dog didn't know her. She quickly carried the dog to her house, pushing the door open, she placed the dog on the ground and watched as she jumped around her feet, she grabbed a bowl from one of her mom's cupboards and filled it with some water.

She knew this dog had been missing for hours, and she knew it had been warm all day, she figured by now that she must need a drink. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and watched as Coochie began to lap up the water.

She quickly called her mom, hoping she would be available to take Santana's call, she released a breath when her mother answered on the fourth ring. "_Mija, is everything okay?_" Maribel asked, her voice sounding slightly panicked.

"Yeah, everything's fine, so listen, I found a dog an-"

"_No!" _She said firmly_, "No way, mija. You are not getting a dog._"

Santana furrowed her eyebrows, "Oh, no, no. No!" She said, "I don't want to keep the dog." She said only partly lying, she did have to admit, the puppy was extremely cute, and had she not known who it belonged to, she might have used her 'Santana charm' to try and persuade her mom to let her keep her. "You know where the Fabray's live right?" She asked, "The dog kind of belongs to one of them."

"_How do you know?"_

Santana rolled her eyes, "Because earlier this girl came up to me and asked me to keep a look out for a dog," Santana explained, "She saw me when I was reading and told me that she'd lost her dog. _This_ dog. She fits the description perfectly." Santana said, "Then this girl reintroduces herself to me as Danielle Fabray, because obviously I didn't recognise her, because I mean, have you seen her now?"

"_Yes, I see her almost everyday,_" She said, "_I'm very close to, Judy, and yes I have seen her now. No one knows why she wears so much eye make-up, or why it's so dark… She was such a pretty girl._"

"_Was _pretty?"

_"Well of course she still is; ridiculously so, all of the Fabrays are._" She said, "_I just want to know why she wears so much make-up._"

"Beats me," Santana said quickly, "Look, you just said you're close to her folks, so will you please give me directions to the Fabray's house so I can get an Uber, I don't have much money, but I can afford that at least." Santana asked, she moved her head away from the puppy slightly as she began licking her face.

"And you're positive that's her dog?"

Santana nodded her head, "One hundred percent." She said. "A husky puppy, grey and white with bright blue eyes, answers to the name Coochie." She said.

"Coochie?" Maribel asked, "Why would she name her dog after a va-"

"Mom, please don't finish that sentence, and technically, she didn't. She had no ideas for a name, so she left it to a hat draw and kind of picked out that name… but that's beside the point, can you please just give me their address?"

Santana quickly wrote the address down as her mother spoke, she said a quick goodbye and hung up the phone before ordering an Uber for herself and Coochie. She sighed when she noticed there appeared to be all of two uber drivers serving the entire town and wasn't surprised when the app notified her that the closest driver was finishing another ride and would be there in 35 minutes. She put her phone down and decided to pass the time playing with the adorable dog until her phone chimed and notified her that the uber had arrived.

Santana rushed to the car, carrying Coochie with her. She climbed into the back seat and briefly greeted the driver, promising him the puppy wouldn't pee in the backseat - she only hoped that was the truth as she did not want to pay extra for cleaning. She scratched behind the dog's ear, while struggling to keep her still. Santana couldn't help but laugh at the excitable puppy, sitting restlessly on her knee.

She hadn't been to the Fabray's house in five years, it was odd to be going back there after all this time. When Santana had been younger, she had spent a lot of her days with the two Fabray girls. They had spent time in the basement, watching movies, eating junk food, and playing all the stereotypical slumber party games. If they weren't doing that, then they would be hanging out around the pool.

Santana had loved this house as a kid, of course, her home in Miami had been just as nice, and she too had a pool, her father was wealthy, just like Mr. Fabray, but Santana had liked the novelty of being in a small town home, with the two girls she rarely saw.

She had to admit, she was very eager to see Dani again, having seen her that morning and liking very much what she saw.

As she sat in the back of the Uber, she took note of everything that she passed, she had an unnecessary need to learn the way to the Fabray home, she hoped that she would be coming back here a lot more. Nothing seemed to have changed much about the town; all the buildings were the same, just dingier in colour where they needed a new coat of paint.

She pulled up at the private estate where the Fabrays lived and pulled up outside the house her mother had directed her to.

Her mouth dropped open slightly as she looked up at the large white house. It was definitely bigger than she remembered it being.

Santana slowly climbed the three steps to the door and took a deep breath; Santana rang the doorbell and shifted on her feet as she adjusted her hold on the dog.

"Yeah, I'm getting it!" She heard a voice call. The door was yanked open to reveal a blonde girl, with hazel eyes staring back at Santana.

"I-I think this belongs here." Santana stuttered she held the animal out to the taller girl, who just rolled her eyes.

"Dani!" She called.

"What!?"

"I am guessing it's for you." She said, before she backed away from the door slightly, holding it open slightly.

Dani walked into the hallway and saw Santana holding the dog, a beaming smile spread across her face. "Oh my god, thank you!" She said excitedly, she all but ran to Santana and grabbed the dog from her. "Where did you find her?"

"Well I was reading still and I looked up from my book and saw her just scampering down Lima Heights Adjacent, I called her name and she came to me and I brought her back."

"Thank you so much, I was really starting to panic." She looked down at her dog and tickled behind her ear before she looked up at Santana, "Oh sorry," she said, "Santana you remember my sister, Lucy right?" She asked, "And Lucy, you remember Santana Lopez?"

The girl did look vaguely familiar, though Santana's first guess wouldn't have been that this girl was Lucy Fabray, though, now that it had been brought to her attention, she could see the similarities. Though, this girl was thinner than she had been the last time she had seen her, she also had blonde hair rather than the light brown and she no longer wore glasses, her nose looked slightly different, too.

"Jesus Christ!" Santana said, _seriously what is in the Fabray genes?_

"Yeah, my sentiment exactly," Lucy said, a small smile found its way onto her face, as she looked at the other girl, "I heard you were moving back here, I didn't think that it was actually true though."

"I told you it was." Dani said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, but you never really know, do you?" She asked.

Santana shrugged, "Well, I'm here now." She said, "And you'll probably be seeing a lot more of me." She said, she let out a small sigh, "Anyway, I should probably get going."

"No, come in and stay for just a little bit," she said, "It's only me and Lucy in right now."

The older girl rolled her eyes; "Actually I just go by Quinn now, so ignore her when she's saying Lucy."

Dani rolled her eyes, "Fine, you should stay and catch up with Quinn and me," she said, she glanced at her sister, "I mean, I think we can all agree that six years is way too long."

Santana nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, I guess that couldn't hurt right?" She asked.

Quinn nodded her head, "Absolutely."

* * *

"I have to ask, and I only feel the need to because it's staring me right in the face," Santana chuckled, "Why the rocker look?" she asked, gesturing to how Dani was dressed. She couldn't help but match the small smile that made its way onto Dani's face. "I mean, it just seems so different to who you were the last time I saw you."

Dani shrugged her shoulders, "I've always been into rock music, but before, Judy and my dad bought my clothes for me." Dani replied, Santana furrowed her eyebrow at the use of Mrs. Fabray's name, rather than calling her 'mom,' she opened her mouth to say something before Dani carried on talking. "But now I go shopping for my own stuff, so I can actually wear what I want, and have my make up how I want."

"I can't imagine your folks like it that much, I mean, Quinn is so…" she trailed off trying to find the right words before simply saying, "Not this." she smiled, "I can't imagine Frannie being like this either."

"Oh no, they're both totally different, they're more Taylor Swift, while I'm more Hayley Williams." she shrugged, "But no, they don't like it, I am always being told to tone down the make-up, or to wear smarter clothes, but that's not me." she admitted, "I mean, on the up side for them I don't have pink hair anymore, so there's that."

"You had pink hair?" Santana asked, Dani nodded her head as she looked down at the small dog, that had begun to mouth lightly on her hand. "I can't imagine what that was like. Was it bubble gum, light pink?"

Dani shook her head, "No." she scoffed, "If I am dying my hair I am doing it properly, it was bright pink, like real fucking bright." she admitted, "God my dad hated that," she shook her head and smiled slightly.

"I think having a bright hair colour would suit you, you seem like you can pull off any hair colour."

"Well maybe I'll have to test your theory one day." Dani replied with a small smile on her lips.

* * *

"I should really get going, that's like the tenth time she's texted me asking when I'll be home." Santana signed with an eye roll, "It was great seeing you again today, and it was awesome spending time with you and Quinn… well until Quinn ditched us." Santana smiled.

Dani nodded her head, "No problem, I don't want you getting yourself in trouble because of me." she stood up and held a hand out for Santana, helping her up from the couch and pulling her into a hug. "You can come over any time." She spoke quietly. "I'm really happy we got a chance to hang out today."

"Yeah me, too." she replied, "It'd be great if we could do it again, some time in the next week. It'd be great if I could start the new school year with at least one friend." she smiled.

"Yeah that'd be awesome, give me your phone I'll put my number in it and just call or text me anytime and we'll sort something out?" Dani offered, Santana handed her phone over with a smile, and watched as Dani typed in her number, turning her mouth down slightly as she tried to remember all the correct digits.

Santana couldn't help but fine Dani ridiculously cute, Dani handed Santana's phone back to her with a beaming smile, "Well, thanks." she said as she slid her phone into her back pocket.

"You're welcome, thank you for getting my dog back to me, today. It really means a lot to me, I was so worried." she admitted.

"Don't mention it." Santana smiled, "Hey, maybe we can even take her out for a walk together one day?" she offered with a small shrug, watching as a soft grin spread onto Dani's lips.

"I'd really like that." She admitted.


End file.
